Tons of new Halo 5: Guardians artwork has just been unveiled this week from 343 Industries, the makers of all things Halo these days. During a new viral marketing campaign a few days ago, 343 Industries released an email to Xbox owners displaying a geometric star map with some clickable stars. “Look closer”, said the image which when clicked revealed some cryptic image segments to unknowing Halo fans. I personally thought the email was about Microsoft’s Halo and the #HuntTheTruth advert campaign, but I wasn’t absolutely sure until clicking on the stars of the map myself. The pics displayed some unintelligible pieces of a much larger picture. Further research led some reddit users to find the rest of the pieces [displayed above], that assemble the new final cover artwork for Halo 5! Outstanding work reddit Dudes! Microsoft and 343i has since released high-res jpegs of the cover, as well as close-ups of the characters displayed at the bottom corners.

The Spartan II’s on the left obviously shows John-117 along with the rest of his ‘blue team’, Frederic-104, Kelly-087, and Linda-058, who have been depicted in books and novels [Halo: The Fall of Reach], before the release of the original story and game Halo: Combat Evolved. The other Spartans on the right are more mysterious. We know the lead character is Oni’s Spartan Agent Lock wearing Hunter Armor. The other three Spartans however are unknown to us. All of these characters should play a vital role in the story of Halo 5. Some have speculated that a new cooperative game mode as well as the single player campaign should involve the new Spartans as well! Enjoy the large pics and the animated cover below.

Bungie’s House of Wolves livestream happened earlier today and I missed it! Bungie did however say they were going to release a copy of the livestream sometime in the near future, so I’ll post it here at Dude Gamer as soon as it comes out. In the meantime, enjoy the teaser trailer they had just released that gives you an enticing look at the new expansion.

Here are some new feature coming with new expansion, House of Wolves:

New “Ascend” upgrade path for legendary or exotic weapons and armor.

Re-roll the randomized perks for any new weapon acquired with “Reforge”.

New social space to battle in called “The Reef”. This new battle space will work like the Tower in some respects, (Vault Access, Bounty Tracker Robot, New Queens Wrath Vendors, House of Judgement Gear).

In the Tower, the Speaker will act as a trader for old materials. Exchange materials for Mote of Light, etc.

Bungie released a new Destiny patch today with several big fixes and improvements. Most notably in this patch are increased vault size as well as several Strike and Raid fixes which have been frustrating players.

Player vaults have increased in size from 20 items in each group to 24 pieces of armor, 36 weapons, and 24 general items. I know I’ve been running out of space on a regular basis. This improvement applies to all console users, but unfortunately due to memory problems all Xbox 360 and PS3 players will no longer be able to compare items in the vault to what is located in their inventories. This is due to lacking memory of past consoles and Bungie was forced to make concessions in one area or another to allow the vault change to go into effect on early hardware.

New audio and visual improvements are also present that allow users to mute the Destiny musical score as well as improvement for color blind players. One very welcome improvement for me is the item lock feature which prevents the player from accidentally dismantling items. I’ve cursed myself for this in the past, but no more! Click here to review full patch notes from Bungie.

Hello everyone! Hope you got to play the Halo 5 multiplayer beta this past January. I for one was surprised to see how well the game was developed after playing a broken Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Although that game is now patched, the match making still has some issues and 343 Industries needs to fix them…soon!

Halo 5 should be a good game, but will it great? We will know this year after its release sometime in the Fall 2015. I believe that 343 Industries put out a good Halo 4 game, although the multiplayer component was lacking. They never properly tested it. You can’t test a multiplayer game of that magnitude without a thorough open play test. 343 Industries should have launched a small beta, but I think they just didn’t have time. They probably had no choice but to rush the internal testing. Which really isn’t a good thing to begin with. Internal testing never reflects what real world players will reveal about a game.

343 Industries is still a new game development studio which has much to learn. After all, they are filling some big shoes they were handed from Bungie. I predict the new Halo developer is sharpening their axes after delivering to us a much need beta this time with Halo 5: Guardians. 343i is definitely focusing on the entire package this time and not just a segment of the game. I think I will enjoy Halo 5: Guardians, but I also believe that 343i has an ulterior motive. E-Sports! This time they’re going for the whole enchilada.

I really enjoyed participating in the Halo 5 beta. The sound and graphics were superb. The gameplay mechanics felt good, and more importantly 343 Industries is learning to make their own “secret sauce” to add into Halo’s development. Bungie has it, all great game development studios have it. It’s called innovation.

Bungie Studios innovated with every iteration of their Halo games. They learning from their mistakes in the past yes, but they always took development a step beyond new graphics, game modes, or maps. Bungie always did add some interesting campaign or multiplayer game mechanics to their shooters. Improving the overall design from the ground up. Bungie didn’t just make the games more fun and interesting. They designed their games to keep them relevant to an audience of critical fans. Now, 343i has been passed the Halo baton and although they aren’t quite running with it yet, they are picking up the pace to at least a full jog. Some new features added to Halo 5, some radical, and some only improved upon should fit the needs of fans. Here are the new features as follows:

RUSH

Rush allows the player to close the gap very quickly between opposing teams or single combatants using thrusters and it feels wonderful. Bodily mounted thrusters are great to evade enemy gunfire as well. This is a great game mechanic for professional game tacticians who compete in first person shooters and e-sports tournaments.

SHOULDER CHARGE

Using thrusters to maneuver is great, but using them to attack an opponent with crushing force is even better. If you are able to get within proximity of an enemy you can shoulder charge your opponent while the camera switches to third person showing the placement of your attack.

STOMP

Stomp is just what it sounds like. Stomp to disorient your enemy or several opponents at once. Leap off of a ledge or stair onto your unsuspecting adversary to “ground slam” them with this melee style attack. The camera switches to third person if pulled off successfully to show the full carnage of this devastating move.

INFINITE SPRINT

In Halo 5: Guardians you can sprint as much as you like, but it comes with a cost. Sprinting will cause your shield not to regenerate so use sprinting wisely while in the midst of combat. You don’t have to come to a complete stop to recharge your shields, but you do have to stop sprinting.

LEDGE GRAB

Like in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, you can now grab a ledge and climb up to escape or hurdle yourself towards your target. Run, jump, and clamber your way up and over or around an obstacle as long as it’s of reasonable height. No more falling from a missed jump, delivering yourself as easy prey into the hands of your enemies.

SMART SCOPE

Probably the most radical addition to any Halo game and the most controversial among fans is he addition of smart scope. Smart scope allows the player to use the scope or sight of their weapon instead of just traditionally shooting from the hip as with most weapons in Halo. Pressing in the Left Trigger even with the energy sword gives you a more accurate lunging attack option that I’m sure many will appreciate. Something this different was sure to be met with skepticism by Halo fans. In time, I believe smart scope will be something we will use and learn to love. After all, scopes or sights are mounted on weapons for a reason. They are not just for show anymore in first person shooters. Other shooters have been using sights for all weapon classes for a long time. In my opinion it’s about time all Halo weapons evolve with this more modern shooting mechanic. Yes, pun intended. Hail the Master Chief!